Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Lost without Lost

With the latest seasons of Lost and The Sopranos both over I'm on the lookout for a new drama/comedy series to fill the occasional TV-shaped gap in my evenings. Below are my Top 10 US and UK TV series of recent years to give an indication of what floats my boat when it comes to the gogglebox (note: no sci-fi). At the moment, it's a toss up between House, Deadwood, Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm, all of which I've heard good things about. Any recommendations gratefully received...

Top 10 US TV drama/comedy series

1. The West Wing (1999 - 2006)
2. Six Feet Under (2001 - 2005)
3. The Sopranos (1999 - 2007)
4. The Simpsons (1989 - present)
5. Lost (2004 - present)
6. Friends (1994 - 2004)
7. 24 (2001 - present)
8. Desperate Housewives (2004 - present)
9. Dawson's Creek (1998 -2003)
10. Scrubs (2001 - present)

Top 10 UK TV drama/comedy series

1. Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
2. Our Friends in the North (1996)
3. The Office (2001 - 2003)
4. This Life (1996 - 1997)
5. Cracker (1993 - 1996)
6. Inspector Morse (1987 -2000)
7. Prime Suspect (1991 - present)
8. House of Cards (1990)
9. Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989 - present)
10. A Touch of Frost (1992 - present)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't get into Deadwood. If it's still showing on FX then Sleeper Cell is great - a bit like a more intelligent and less racist 24.

Prison Break is trashy but highly enjoyable. If you liked Dawson's Creek, then you should really try the first 2 series of The OC - slow to warm up but great by the 5th episode (but don't bother with the third series).

I haven't seen House but hear good things about it. Veronica Mars (currently on Living, I think) is a fabulous slow-burner - Looks like a superficial high-school private eye thing (sort of Buffy without the vampires) but actually far more rewarding, with v intricate plotting over 22 episodes and lots of strong performances.

UK series - GBH is one of the few dramas to have come close to Our Friends in the North.

After Cracker, Between the Lines was prob the best police drama of the 90s and the early episodes of Kavanagh QC were usually good.

And for comedy/drama nothing has come close to A Very Peculiar Practice

Chris Jones said...

And how does Lost qualify as not Sci Fi? ;-) Even the producers sold it to ABC as a Sci Fi soap!